Red Wings’ Jeff Petry Undergoes Surgery, Out 6-8 Weeks

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry has undergone surgery to address an undisclosed injury and will miss the next six-to-eight weeks, per Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff. No specifics of the injury were provided.

Petry has been out of the lineup since suffering an injury in the team’s January 3rd game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He left that game with roughly 10 minutes left in the third period after wrapping awkwardly around Columbus’ Kirill Marchenko while the latter took a shot. Petry went down immediately and took his time getting back up. It wasn’t clear what he hurt on the play. He was designated as day-to-day with injury immediately following the game, then landed on injured reserve three days later. Now, Petry will be a candidate for long-term injured reserve, as he pushes to return before Detroit’s season ends on April 17th.

Petry has dealt with numerous injuries this season. He missed time in early October with an upper-body injury, then sat out with a lower-body injury for parts of early December. In total, he’s only played in 34 of Detroit’s 52 games this season. The 37-year-old has just one goal and six points in the games he’s played in. He’s also recorded 12 penalty minutes, a -7, 56 blocked shots, and 39 hits. Petry was Detroit’s fourth-most utilized defender before falling to injury, averaging just over 19 minutes of ice time –  behind Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, and Simon Edvinsson.

Petry is just four seasons removed from recording 42 points in 55 games with the 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens. He’s seen a gradual decrease in scoring ever since, netting 27, 31, and 24 over the last three seasons respectively. Those numbers have fallen off a cliff this season. That decrease, during an injury-riddled season, could motivate Petry to retire when his contract ends this summer. That thought may be in the back of his head through the rest of the season, though he hasn’t been ruled out for the year yet.